Cy Young Days: June 22-24, hometown hero and baseball great Cy Young is feted with a parade, car show, rides and more; special guest and parade grand marshall is Denny McLain, a two-time Cy Young Award winner with the Detroit Tigers; Cy Young Park, Newcomerstown (Tuscarawas County); free; 740-498-5261, www.cyyoungdaysfestival.com.

Pro Football Hall of Fame Festival: July 20-Aug. 6, ribs burnoff, balloon classic and multiple parades culminate in the enshrinement of six football legends into the hall of fame; various Canton locations (Stark County); admission varies; 1-800-533-4302, www.profootballhoffestival.com.

Twins Day Festival: Aug. 3-5, you’ll be seeing double at the largest annual gathering of twins (and other multiples) in the world; activities include a double-take parade, twins talent show and more; Chamberlin Park, Twinsburg (Summit County); $3 (twins registered in advance are free); 330-425-3652, www.twinsdays.org.

Cleveland National Air Show: Sept. 1-3, the U.S. Navy Blue Angels return, along with aerobatic pilots, wing walkers and more; Burke Lakefront Airport, Cleveland (Cuyahoga County); $21, or $14 for children 6 to 11; 216-781-0747, www.clevelandairshow.com.

NORTHEAST OHIO ATTRACTIONS

A sampling of popular summertime activities and events compiled by Dispatch staff members.

THEME AND WATER PARKS

GEAUGA LAKE’S WILDWATER KINGDOM

Description: The park includes a wet playground with basketball hoops and water sprays, a 100-foot-tall water slide with three enclosed body slides, four inner-tube slides and a 1,100-foot-long lazy river.

Admission: $29.99 for those 3 and older 48 inches or taller in bare feet, or $14.99 for children 3 and older less than 48 inches tall in bare feet and senior citizens 62 and older, free for children 2 and younger; evening discounts; group and season passes available

Description: The park offers six-story water slides, a lazy inner-tube ride, a swimming pool, paddleboats on a natural lake, a Gorilla Double slide and a sportsland fun area with pitching cages, driving-range cages, a water-cannon war zone, a miniature golf course, a basketball course, an arcade and a Grand Prix Go-Kart Supertrack

Admission: $19.95, or free for children less than 40 inches tall; go-cart admission, $13.95, includes four ride tickets for the Grand Prix Go-Karts and unlimited use of all dry attractions; Grand Prix Go-Karts: $4 a ride

Special exhibits: “Modern Gothic: The Etchings of John Taylor Arms,” comprises about 60 prints, drawings and copper plates as well as the American artist’s diaries, printmaking tools, family photograph albums, and his studio guestbook (June 9 through Sept. 30); “Youth and Beauty: Art of the American Twenties,” the works of more than 60 painters, sculptors and photographers who explored a new mode of modern realism in the aftermath of the Great War and the onset of the Great Depression (July 1-Sept. 16); “DIY: Photographers & Books,” focuses on the impact of print-on-demand publishing on contemporary photographic practice (Aug. 11 through Dec. 30)

Description: The center features hundreds of hands-on exhibits, Big Science Shows and educational programs that show the relationship among science, the environment and technology.

Location: 601 Erieside Ave., Cleveland (Cuyahoga County)

Open: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily

Admission: $14, $12 for children 2 to 12; additional cost for the OMNIMAX theater, the Steamship William G. Mather and the traveling exhibition (prices subject to change)

Parking: $7 in attached garage with a validated ticket

Special exhibits, openings: “Frogs! A Chorus of Colors,” an exhibit gallery that offers visitors the feel of a frog’s world with frog habitats, complete with rock ledges; live plants and waterfalls; and backlighted graphic panels cover the walls. Interactive components invite visitors to activate videos of frogs in action, create a nighttime frog chorus, spin a zoetrope, and conduct a virtual frog dissection.

Description: The museum honors the players and history of professional football.

Location: 2121 George Halas Dr. N.W., Canton (Stark County)

Open: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, Memorial Day through Labor Day

Admission: $21, or $17 for senior citizens 62 and older, $15 for children 6 to 12, free for children 5 and younger

Parking: free

Special exhibits: Phase one of the largest expansion and renovation project in the museum’s nearly 50-year history — the two-year, $27 million project “Future 50” — will be completed in June and will include the Ralph Wilson, Jr. Pro Football Research and Preservation Center, a 10,800-square-foot addition coupled with the renovation of an existing 6,000-square-foot space, that will enable the proper preservation and storage of the comprehensive and growing collection of pro football artifacts, documents and archive materials relating to the history of pro football. A new main entrance and grand lobby will feature a two-story atrium

Open: 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily, until 9 p.m. Wednesday and Saturday, Memorial Day through Labor Day

Admission: $22, or $17 for senior citizens 65 and older and military with ID, $13 for children 9 to 12, free for children 8 and younger

Parking: nearby lots, garages and on-street meters

Special exhibits: “Grateful Dead: The Long, Strange Trip” explores the band and its followers, including finished and working manuscripts (through December); “The Beatles,” part of the first redesign in the museum’s 15-year history, includes the most comprehensive collection of Beatles’ items, some of which are on display for the first time; “Otis Redding,” salutes the life and music of Hall of Fame inductee Otis Redding (beginning Sept. 9); “2012 Inductee Exhibit” honors the newest inductees: Beastie Boys, Donovan, Guns N’ Roses, Laura Nyro, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Small Faces/the Faces, the Blue Caps, the Comets, the Crickets, the Famous Flames, the Midnighters and the Miracles, Freddie King, Don Kirshner, Cosimo Matassa, Tom Dowd and Glyn Johns (ongoing)

* Description: Just west of downtown, the accredited world-conservation zoo boasts 50 acres and more than 700 animals.

Location: 500 Edgewood Ave., Akron (Summit County)

Big attractions: Journey to the Reef, opening May 26, boasts 17 aquariums with live coral, octopus, clownfish, eels, lionfish and jellyfish, plus a stingray touch tank. Legends of the Wild features 16 animal exhibits, more than 20 species and more than 400 animals, including snow leopards, jaguars, lemurs and bats.

Open: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily through October

Admission: $10, or $8.50 for senior citizens 62 and older, $7 for children 2 to 14, free for children younger than 2

Description: The 180-acre zoo, 4 miles south of downtown, has nearly 3,000 animals — many in natural settings.

Location: 3900 Wildlife Way, Cleveland (Cuyahoga County)

Big attractions: The zoo’s first-ever Persian onagers — an endangered subspecies of Asiatic wild ass — are on display. African Elephant Crossing, a five-acre, $25-million exhibit that opened last summer includes a “nose-to-trunk” viewing window, an elevated feeding station and a gated crossing where visitors can watch as the elephants pass by.

Open: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily and until 7 p.m. Saturdays, Sundays and holidays Memorial Day through Labor Day

Admission: $12.25, or $8.25 for children 2 to 11, free for children younger than 2

Parking: free

Wheelchair access: yes; rental: $8, or $25 for electric; single-stroller rental: $7, or $10 for double. Wheelchairs must be reserved by calling 216-661-7603.

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